Meta India has issued an apology following CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s controversial statement suggesting that the incumbent government in India lost the 2024 general elections due to its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid a growing backlash, the company’s India representative described the remark as an “inadvertent error.”

Responding to a post by Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who fact-checked Zuckerberg’s claim, Meta India’s Vice-President of Public Policy, Shivnath Thukral, clarified the statement. On social media platform X, Thukral acknowledged that Zuckerberg’s observation about many incumbent governments not being re-elected in 2024 applied to several countries but not to India. He apologized for the error, emphasizing that India remains a priority for Meta, which aims to support the nation’s innovative growth.

Minister Vaishnaw had earlier highlighted on X that India, as the world’s largest democracy, successfully conducted the 2024 elections with over 640 million voters. He affirmed that the Indian people had reaffirmed their trust in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who secured a decisive third-term victory. Vaishnaw expressed disappointment over Zuckerberg’s inaccurate claim and called for greater responsibility to uphold factual accuracy and credibility.

The Minister also underscored the achievements of the Modi government, including providing free food to 800 million people, administering 2.2 billion free COVID-19 vaccines, offering international aid during the pandemic, and steering India as the fastest-growing major economy. He credited these initiatives for the government’s continued public trust and electoral success.

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Meanwhile, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who chairs the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Communications and IT, announced that the panel would summon Meta to address the dissemination of incorrect information.